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For Immediate Release
Interview of First Lady Laura Bush by Univision
[ ... ]
Q In the minds of many of these First Ladies in this meeting
will be your husband's, the President's, latest proposal for
immigration. If you will, because this is an issue for millions of
immigrant women in this country, if you put yourself in the position of
an immigrant worker, a mother of two, she has two kids in school, she
has two jobs, and her only goal is that these two kids receive an
American education.
MRS. BUSH: A good education, sure.
Q Why would you register with the government for a temporary
visa for three years if you might risk that, at the end of this you,
all of you, might be deported?
MRS. BUSH: Well, actually, the temporary visas would be -- in the
proposal, you could renew those visas. But there are a lot of reasons
that you should register if this proposal is passed by the United
States Congress. And that is, it protects you from exploitation. If
you have suffered in any way, if you have been exploited in any way or
a crime has been committed against you, you could go to the
authorities. Which now, if you're illegal, you would feel like you
couldn't go to the police because you would be deported.
It gives you the chance to go to your child's school and to be an
advocate for your child at their school, and to not be afraid that
somehow, when you went up to talk to the teacher, that you might have a
chance of being turned in as an illegal.
All of those things really would protect women and men who are
working in the United States. It gives you the chance to look for
better working conditions. If there's anything about your working
conditions that are bad, you can't complain about it now if you're
illegal working in the United States.
So in many ways, my husband's proposal is very, very compassionate
to -- with people, women and men, who are working in the United States
but are illegal.
Q So your advice to the perhaps hundreds of thousands of women
who are watching us is to go and register?
MRS. BUSH: Yes, that's right. Although this program is not set
up. They can't do that yet. And it's going to require a lot of work
with the United States Congress to get a program through like this.
So, yes. But, yes, I would.
And I also really want to encourage women who are working in the
United States, for whatever reason, if they're citizens, if they have a
green card, if they're illegal, to be an advocate for their children in
school, and to go up to their children's schools and to make sure
they're helping their child in every way they can. Ask the child's
teacher, what can I do to make sure my child gets a really good
education?
[ ... ]
END 10:47 A.M. EST
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